John Benjamins Publishing Company

John Benjamins Publishing Company

This is a contribution from Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 2:1 © 2016. John Benjamins Publishing Company This electronic file may not be altered in any way. The author(s) of this article is/are permitted to use this PDF file to generate printed copies to be used by way of oﬀprints, for their personal use only. Permission is granted by the publishers to post this file on a closed server which is accessible only to members (students and faculty) of the author’s/s’ institute. It is not permitted to post this PDF on the internet, or to share it on sites such as Mendeley, ResearchGate, Academia.edu. Please see our rights policy on https://benjamins.com/content/customers/rights For any other use of this material prior written permission should be obtained from the publishers or through the Copyright Clearance Center (for USA: www.copyright.com). Please contact [email protected] or consult our website: www.benjamins.com

Reviews Outcomes: Upper intermediate, student’s book (2nd Ed.). Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley, Andover, UK: National Geographic Learning, Cengage Learning, 2015, 213pp. Outcomes: Upper intermediate, teacher’s book (2nd Ed.). Mike Sayer, Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley, Andover, UK: National Geographic Learning, Cengage Learning, 2015, 288 pp. Reviewed by Alison McGregor (University of Texas at Austin) Keywords: Outcomes Upper Intermediate, integrated skills textbook, pronunciation, authentic listening

Outcomes: Upper intermediate (2nd Ed.) is an integrated skills textbook for British English emphasizing grammar and vocabulary development with strong communicative components through various listening activities, authentic conversation development practices, and pronunciation activities. The publisher claims the book is quick and easy for English teachers to prepare from and use because, among other reasons, pronunciation is fully integrated and a listening stream with activities helps students understand and imitate fast authentic speech. This review examines the components of integrated pronunciation and fast speech listening. This textbook, one in a 5-level series, targets upper intermediate learners of British English. The theoretical underpinnings of the text stem from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) goals for teaching and learning language to enable learners to deal with everyday life in another country and to exchange information and ideas. It is for CEFR level B1 (IELTS bands 4–5) students who want to move up to level B2 (IELTS bands 5–6.5). The student’s book includes a CD with audio files and video vignettes. Audio scripts are provided in the back of the student’s book along with writing activities, unit-specific grammar references, and information for interactive activities. Answer keys to pronunciation activities and some supplemental information are provided in the teacher’s book. Resources from the publisher also include a workbook and students can create an online account for self- or instructor-led study, which are not part of the resources reviewed here. Fifteen of the 16 units in the textbook include pronunciation components, comprising a total of 26 integrated pronunciation activities with additional

Journal of Second Language Pronunciation 2:1 (2016), 143–147. doi 10.1075/jslp.2.1.06mcg issn 2215–1931 / e-issn 2215–194X © John Benjamins Publishing Company

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production practice(s) following each. The pronunciation foci include word stress, phrase and sentence stress, reductions, thought-groups, and intonation patterns for phrases, questions and tag questions. The pronunciation activities re-use target language from the respective unit’s grammar, listening, vocabulary, and/or conversation development components. Word stress is addressed in Units 1, 2 and 6, and tasks include listen and notice, followed by repeat or practice saying sentences. In Unit 1, the focus is noticing stress in adverbs. In Unit 2, the task is to notice wordlevel stress in words from two previous vocabulary exercises in the unit. In Unit 6, students are asked to underline to predict phrasal stress of two-word modifiers, such as quite near, fairly nice, and pretty good, and then listen to check the answer of stress placement. Unit 3 focuses on linking with pronouns. Units 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 include similar task-types that focus work on intonation of phrases, sentences, yes/no questions, and tag questions. A Unit 9 exercise also includes student-generated and application tasks where students write out introductions, mark “word groups” and underline stress followed by practice with a partner. In Unit 10 the focus is on noticing how the voice goes up for a genuine tag question and down for a tag question indicating a comment, followed by reading a conversation in pairs, and then applying the patterns by asking a partner questions. Reductions in specific instances (e.g. have, been, was, suppose to be) are addressed in Units 5, 7, 12, and 13. For example, an exercise in Unit 12 challenges students to catch the reductions in the phrase “supposed to be” and then practice using it in pair work. A focus on sentence stress (prominence) appears in Units 6, 9, and 14. Finally, Unit 16 targets the pronunciation of numbers and symbols for emails or websites. The listening stream, “Understanding Fast Speech,” is based on eight video news/documentary-type National Geographic vignettes related to unit themes. This novel listening component is distributed in every other unit starting in Unit 2 and highlights thought-groups, connected speech, and rhythm. Each video vignette is approximately four minutes in length. After listening and discussion activities related to the content of the video, the text section ends with fast speech listening practice, a short clip of the video played at normal speed, slowed-speech, and then normal speed again; that is, the same clip is repeated three times at two speeds for a total of about 30–60 seconds with the exception of video clip 3, which lasts a full minute and 43 seconds. The slowed-speech clips offer reduced speech rate without altering the authenticity of connected speech and prosodic features. During the listening task, students are instructed to look at three to seven lines from the video script with marked chunking (/), primary stress (CAPITALS), and pauses (//). According to the teacher’s book, understanding fast speech provides strategies to help students understand real-world language. The authors further explain that spoken English words are “grouped, run together, and unstressed syllables almost disappear” (p. 35). The slowed-speech samples are a unique and

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valuable tool but how it can be used as a strategy for listening comprehension or pronunciation improvement is, however, not explicitly addressed in either the student or teacher book. Outcomes: Upper intermediate offers the advantages of contextualized and integrated pronunciation components with authentic listening. The pronunciation components are contextualized and integrated both in terms of regular incorporation within unit themes and more importantly through recycling of language targeted in vocabulary, listening, grammar, and conversations within each unit. Instructors will appreciate the integration of noticing a variety of speech features across the units and multi-step tasks in which students listen, notice, mark and/or write their own sentences, followed by controlled reading practice and/or less controlled production of self-generated extemporaneous speech. The authentic listening to fast speech with fast/slowed/fast-video clips grounds the listening comprehension component in awareness-raising (Sardegna & McGregor, 2013), acoustic blur (Cauldwell, 2013), and level-appropriate models for listening practice development. Derwing, Diepenbroek, and Foote (2012) assert that in terms of L2 pronunciation research, effective incorporation of pronunciation in a general-skills textbook should include 1) both suprasegmental and segmental features, 2) variation in pronunciation task-types, 3) explicit explanations of pronunciation rules and features, and 4) the linking of pronunciation to other language content for reinforcement. Based on these criteria, Outcomes: Upper intermediate succeeds in linking pronunciation to other language components, but fails to include segmental training, is somewhat limited in task-types, and quite limited in explicit explanation of rules and features. There is also a mismatch between some intonation foci covered and unit learning objectives. To this end, the textbook might present some challenges for students and instructors who lack extensive knowledge and experience with pronunciation training. Given the crucial role of word stress for word-level intelligibility and the trajectory of students from CEFR level B1 to B2, explicit information on what a syllable is and how stress is made and a list of word stress rules would be useful for expanding vocabulary while at the same time promoting understandable pronunciation. In Unit 3, for example, a vocabulary activity focuses on word families but lacks any explicit connection to word-level stress started in Unit 1, missing an opportunity for vocabulary/pronunciation integration of word stress rules to word-level pronunciation practice. Similar to the “Grammar Reference” provided in the back of the student textbook, which gives explicit unit-specific rules and additional practice exercises, a “Pronunciation Reference” in the back of the student textbook would be a very useful addition. With explicit information about word stress rules and word-level intelligibility practice targeting accuracy, students and teachers could recycle these fundamentals throughout the entire book, going one


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step farther to consistently integrate and scaffold pronunciation with vocabulary development of each unit. In regard to the mismatch in intonation foci and learning objectives, the intonation patterns covered in the textbook do not support the complexity of unit learning objectives including real-world tasks such as disagree politely, make stories dramatic, express opinions and discuss social issues. To effectively perform these unit objectives requires the use of sentence stress, tone choice, and intonation patterns for posing complex questions, giving opinions, being persuasive, and showing emotions, for example. Again, the inclusion of a unit-specific “Pronunciation Reference” could be used to provide explicit information on primary sentence stress guidelines, to list the functions of intonation and provide additional exercises for targeted practice. This general-skills textbook highlights the need for applied linguistic researchers to continue delving into big questions such as what percentage of dealing with everyday life communication is related to pronunciation. Derwing et al. (2012) found that in textbooks with integrated pronunciation activities, an average 6% of the textbook was dedicated to pronunciation. Is this enough? More research is needed on the role of “bootstrapping” (Weissenborn & Höhle, 2001) and how to effectively integrate pronunciation with grammar, vocabulary, and listening, in addition to speaking. Perhaps one of the most fundamental questions in the field still relates to which pronunciation foci should be learned at which levels. Textbook authors as well as instructors need this information to have increased understanding of what pronunciation curriculum will support specific learning and performance objectives and scaffold skill development for the ultimate outcome of effective communication in everyday life. In conclusion, the variety and contemporary nature of content, recycling of language, engrossing National Geographic video vignettes with slowed authentic speech, as well as the quantity and organization of activities, do contribute to an easy-to-use and motivating textbook. Outcomes: Upper intermediate is a solid step forward in textbook development, especially in terms of contextualized pronunciation activities, the importance of suprasegmentals, and teaching listening as a stream of speech.

References Cauldwell, R. (2013). Phonology for listening: Teaching the stream of speech. Birmingham, UK: SpeechinAction. Derwing, T. M., Diepenbroek, L. G., & Foote, J. A. (2012). How well do general-skills ESL textbooks address pronunciation? TESL Canada Journal, 30(1), 22–44.


Reviews 147 Sardegna, V., & McGregor, A. (2013). Scaffolding students’ self-regulated efforts for effective pronunciation practice. Paper presented at the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference. Ames, IA: Iowa State University. Weissenborn, J., & Höhle, B. (Eds.). (2001). Approaches to bootstrapping: Phonological, lexical and neurophysiological aspects of early language acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/lald.23

Author’s address Alison McGregor ESL Services The International Office P.O. Box A Austin, Texas 78713-8901 [email protected]
